Today

At work we had a "town hall meeting" to meet with the new president of the south area. Thanks to bad timing on my part, I was essentially toasted for the majority of it. NOT INTENTIONALLY. I ate two packs of oatmeal before leaving and took my pain meds (we're going on a week now and I thought I had built up at least some tolerance. In addition I took HALF of the dosage). Luckily I have a very understanding manager who shielded me from embarrassing myself and guided me through the whole shindig (yes, it was that bad).
Pain medicine is really frustrating. The OTC stuff isn't really strong enough to take the edge off right now, but anything beyond that I can't handle and end up higher than a kite for HOURS. Or did I miss the boat and that's how they work?

Anywho.

I had another stellar lesson today, on Stella! I've ridden the mare three times now and I really like her. She's got an honest, jump, is pretty easy to regulate, does flying lead changes, bends when asked (reluctantly), and is pretty responsive. She jumps REALLY round though, and with a lower head carriage. Generally not a bad thing but the trainer was remarking on how well I ride her, and how many women she's thrown right over her head. One of the women in the class asked why, and I can absolutely see it. When you're over the jump there really isn't much "horse" in front of you. So she already jumps forward and round, and if you're caught off guard AND she jumps big, plus she's round and low up front, there's nothing to grab on to. A lot of horses there's a little bit of neck to hold onto and keep your balance but with her it's just the ground.
Doesn't really bother me much.

Things I'm working on:
1. Keeping my hands closed
2. Staying in "half seat" aka two-point
3. Not playing with the reins (would generally be solved by fixing #1 since my playing is generally me shortening the reins because they side through)
4. Strengthening.

Overall I'm pretty impressed with my current progress and I'm continuing to build my confidence. The class is somewhat scattered with skill level, and I went from the lower jumps to the higher jumps (within the class, still only about 3"-6" difference at most).
I love it though. I got a little nervous today seeing the bigger jumps and the more technical stuff but I just sucked it up and I rode well and even kept my seat when Stella chipped in on one jump and took the other one long.

I love riding like this again. So much. I do however wish I had the ability to do a little self-schooling, just on the flat. No stirrup work and stuff like that.

Car payment coming up. SCARY.